Brookfield Students Fashion Their Dream Forest from Bottle Caps

With help from a resident artist, Brookfield Elementary students are creating a mural for the school.

After a year of collecting bottle caps, catching them on their way to the trash and asking friends and relatives to do the same, the students of Brookfield Elementary School are finally using their thousands of caps to construct a mural for their school. “The excitement has been building for a year,” said Kristen Wolf, art specialist at Brookfield Elementary. “They’ve had their grandparents and neighbors collecting, so they’re so excited to finally be using all of these bottle caps.” Wolf came up with the idea two years ago, when she Googled “bottle cap art” and found Michelle Stitzlein, who has been making art from bottle caps since 2004. They decided to have Stitzlein, who lives in Ohio, visit Brookfield for a week as an “artist in …

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Teams Planning Transition of Hillside Closure, Brookfield El Merger

District staff and school parents are working to make transition as seamless as possible and honor Hillside in its final year.

Elmbrook School Board Supports Parents' Redistricting Ideas

The School Board favored a new plan urged by many parents at forums last week that eliminates Dixon as a swing school.

Redistricting changes that parents urged at a forum last week were backed Tuesday by a majority of the Elmbrook School Board, to the delight of parents in the audience. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" one mother said. The board plans to vote at its Nov. 22 meeting. But Tuesday, the majority said they could support an alternative scenario dubbed 4B in the board's packet, which would: Dividing the five-schools into two west side, three east side could result in Dixon's enrollment declining to unacceptable levels. Some board members said Tuesday that if Elmbrook decided to add 4-year-old kindergarten, it is possible 4K classes could be consolidated at Dixon, rather than be held in all schools. The board will take a closer look before the …

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Parents Urge Changes to Hillside Closure Redistricting Plans

Hillside parents object to splitting up their kids, while Brookfield Elementary parents don't want their children to move to a "swing school" without enough peers.

There's been a certain symmetry in Elmbrook School District for years, with three elementary, one middle and one high school each on the east and west sides of the district. Some have marveled at how close the enrollments have shaken out between Brookfield Central High and East High, and between Wisconsin Hills Middle and Pilgrim Park Middle. But with the School Board voting to close Hillside Elementary School and move from a six-elementary school feeder system to five elementaries, the symmetry disappears and perceived inequities arise. Throw into the mix the board and superintendent's interest in redistricting in a way that leaves room to close a second school if needed in the future — without moving the same families yet again, and it …

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Offer Input in Hillside Redistricting Plan

The Elmbrook School District will discuss various redistricting options at two meetings Nov. 2.

Elmbrook School District families are encouraged to attend a Nov. 2 meeting to offer input into the best way to redistrict Hillside Elementary School students following the school's closure. Two meetings will be held: at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Nov. 2 at Wisconsin Hills Middle School, 18700 W. Wisconsin Ave. Parents can attend one or both sessions. The school district has offered three redistricting alternatives, as well as the original proposal to move all Hillside students together to Brookfield Elementary. The School Board Tuesday voted 6-1 to close Hillside at the end of this school year, to address excess elementary school space and budget deficits caused by declining enrollment. Brookfield Patch's live-blog of Tuesday night's debate …

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Elmbrook School Board Votes to Close Hillside

Despite strong pleas from residents and a city alderman representing the Hillside community to keep the school open, School Board members said it was time to be a five-elementary school district.

After emotional debate from residents who begged the Elmbrook School Board to not close any elementary school, board members voted 6-1 to shut down  Hillside Elementary after this school year to close budget gaps amid declining enrollment. Only board member Bob Ziegler urged against closure, winning applause and standing ovations from the packed Brookfield Central High cafeteria when he also objected to a closure vote before an acceptable redistricting plan was created. But Board President Tom Gehl echoed other board members when he said the district could not keep operating six elementary schools with about 30 percent unused space while facing budget deficits and no sign of substantial enrollment increases on the horizon. Parents said the…

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